WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 9, 2007 --The Army is speeding up the rate at which it adds end-strength, its top officer announced Oct. 9.
 
The Army will add a net 74,000 new soldiers by 2010 Army Chief of Staff General George Casey told the Dwight David Eisenhower Luncheon at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting. Originally the increase had been planned for completion by 2012.
 
“We believe that by accelerating our growth we can … improve manning and improve opportunities for leaders to attend their professional military education,” he said. “Meeting this target will not be easy It will require a total force effort if we’re going to expand more rapidly and maintain the quality so essential to our long-term success.”
 
Casey identified four “imperatives” that he said were key to the Army’s ability to maintain its operational tempo while preparing for future conflicts.
 
The first was sustaining the force through recruiting and retaining quality personnel. “We need to improve the manner by which we sustain our soldiers, families and civilians,” he said.  Key to this is not only recruiting, but ensuring that families remain committed and that wounded soldiers receive the proper health care. He added: “Our warriors are our ultimate asymmetric advantage, the one thing that no enemy can duplicate now or in the future and we need to keep them with us.”
 
Casey’s second imperative is preparing the forces. “We’ve made great strides in equipping our soldiers and we’re continually adapting our training and our equipment to keep pace with an evolving enemy,” he said. “We’ve remained committed to providing our deploying soldiers with the best available equipment so that they can maintain a technological advantage over any enemy that they face.”
 
The third imperative that he identified is resetting the Army to be ready for future conflicts. “Since 2003 equipment has been used at rates at over five times [expected] and it has been used in harsh, demanding desert and mountainous environments,” he said. “In addition to fixing and replacing and upgrading our equipment and training for future missions, we also have to revitalize our soldiers and families by providing them the time and opportunity to recover from the cumulative effects of sustained operations.”
 
Casey’s final imperative was transformation which, he said, has four key aspects: accelerating the growth of end-strength, continuing modernization, adapting the reserve components to a period of persistent conflicts, making sure that Army leaders are agile and adaptive.
 
 

POC:
John Grady
Director of Communications
Association of the U.S. Army
(703) 907-2613
jgrady@ausa.org